{"id":78164,"date":"2014-10-17T12:50:02","date_gmt":"2014-10-17T16:50:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/?p=78164"},"modified":"2014-10-27T11:30:33","modified_gmt":"2014-10-27T15:30:33","slug":"very-trustworthy-witnesses","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2014\/10\/17\/very-trustworthy-witnesses\/","title":{"rendered":"Very Trustworthy Witnesses"},"content":{"rendered":"

The many deaths of Ambrose Bierce.<\/em><\/p>\n

\"Ambrose_Bierce\"<\/a>

A portrait of Bierce by John Herbert Evelyn Partington.<\/p><\/div>\n

Ambrose Bierce\u2019s old house in St. Helena, California, surrounded by the vineyards of Napa Valley, is in good repair. Eight stout sequoia trunks flare outward from a fused base in the front yard. An hour and a half drive to the south, in San Francisco, is a short knife-thrust of an alley in North Beach named Ambrose Bierce. It runs behind the old San Francisco Examiner <\/em>building, where Bierce worked as a columnist for the young William Randolph Hearst.<\/p>\n

This year marks the centennial of the presumed death of Bierce, Civil War soldier, journalist, and author of The Devil\u2019s Dictionary<\/em>, a wickedly witty book of social commentary disguised as definitions. He\u2019s still best known for his fiction: his fastidiously plotted horror tales and the dark, vivid stories\u2014including the often anthologized \u201cAn Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge\u201d\u2014that drew from his early war experiences at Chickamauga, Shiloh, and Kennesaw Mountain, where he was wounded. In 1913, at the age of seventy-one, the famous writer saddled up a horse and rode into Mexico, not speaking any Spanish, in order to cover the Mexican Revolutionary War, perhaps to participate in it, perhaps to interview Pancho Villa. As newspaper accounts of his time reported, he disappeared without a trace.<\/p>\n

More accurately, there were too many traces to follow and World War I soon broke out, so a thorough search for Bierce was postponed. In his disappearing act\u2014and some thought it was an act meant to cloak his suicide or his removal to a sanitorium\u2014Bierce becomes a bit like one of the ghostly characters in Mexico\u2019s most celebrated novel, Pedro Paramo<\/em>, which is narrated by a man who doesn\u2019t realize he\u2019s dead. Or like the protagonist in Bierce\u2019s own story \u201cAn Inhabitant of Carcosa,\u201d who stumbles across his own tombstone. According to witnesses, Bierce died over and over again, all over Mexico. There is even a cenotaph for him in the sleepy mining town of Sierra Mojada, in the Chihuahua Desert. Curiously, although his body doesn\u2019t lie under it, it is the most distinguished marker for any of Bierce\u2019s immediate family. Back in St. Helena, his two sons and his wife are buried in unmarked graves. <\/p>\n

First Ambrose Bierce died quickly in the battle at Ojinaga, just across the border from the American town of Presidio. In his last postcard, mailed from Chihuahua City, Bierce informed his secretary that he was headed for Ojinaga. He rode with Pancho Villa\u2019s army as they left Chihuahua City, ready to show off his soldierly skills. According to Villa\u2019s biographer, Friedrich Katz, Bierce took up a rifle in an earlier skirmish at Tierra Blanca where he killed a Federale and, for his marksmanship, was awarded a sombrero. Both an American mercenary and a customs agent testified that they heard an old gringo was shot in the battle of Ojinaga. And a Villista named Ybarra identified a photograph of Bierce, claiming to have seen him in Ojinaga, but never again. His body was burned with hundreds of others.<\/p>\n

A little later, Bierce, only wounded now in the battle at Ojinaga, was spotted by a young Federale who was running for his life from the breached Ojinaga fort. With a swarm of other Federales, he was aiming to cross the Rio Grande to the U.S. side. When he saw the incoherent, moaning gringo, it occurred to him that things might go better if he showed up with a norteamericano<\/em>. He half-floated the old man through the shallows on a two-wheeled cart, hearing him mumble his name\u2014Ambrosia, was it? Ambrosia Price maybe? But once they made the U.S. side, they were unceremoniously swept up with hundreds of other refugees and railroaded to Marfa for processing. The gringo was delirious by then, nearly comatose. He had no papers, no identification. When he died, he was buried in a rush without a marker in the old Camp Marfa cemetery. This narrative, published in 1990 in the Big Bend Sentinel<\/em> and later in the Journal of Big Bend Studies,<\/em> was related to one Abelardo Sanchez of Lancaster, California, by a sixty-something-year-old hitchhiker and former Federale in 1957.<\/p>\n

It was not long after his death in Marfa that Ambrose Bierce was killed near the village of Icamole when he and an Indian muleteer were the only ones who didn\u2019t escape as Villa\u2019s forces overran a party of government soldiers driving a mule train loaded with arms. This time Bierce was riding with the Federales. Both prisoners were executed by a firing squad under the orders of General Tomas Urbina. That\u2019s what journalist James H. Wilkins asserted in his front-page article in San Francisco\u2019s The Bulletin<\/em> in March 1920. Wilkins had gone to Mexico and personally interviewed a witness who had managed to snatch a photo of a man\u2014identified as Bierce\u2014along with a few other personal possessions from the corpse before it was abandoned, unburied, in the desert.<\/p>\n

I kept up a two-year correspondence with Padre Jaime Lienert, who served as pastor to a wide desert community that included Sierra Mojada, an isolated mountain town, where Ambrose Bierce was killed once again by suspicious government soldiers. Padre Jaime paid to have a monument erected in the cemetery that reads:<\/p>\n

\n

Very trustworthy witnesses suppose
that here lie the remains of
1842 Ambrose Gwinnett Bierce 1914
a famous American writer and journalist who
on suspicion of being a spy
was executed and buried at this place.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

It turns out that the oldest man in Sierra Mojada, Don Jesus (Chuy) Benites Avila, happened to remember an incident from his childhood. Padre Jaime translates:<\/p>\n

\n

One morning when I was just a boy, a close pal of mine, Crysostomo, the son of Marcelo de Anda, the Comandante, came running up to me saying to come along because they were going to put someone to the firing squad. So we went to the corral of the soldiers\u2019 quarters, and while we were there a soldier came up to the captain and said: \u201cWe have him, and everything is ready.\u201d With that the captain dispatched several other soldiers, and everyone headed down toward the cemetery. There were a lot of other people following, too, and when we got to the cemetery the soldiers made everyone stand back as far as the stone wall. Then they stood the man against the wall and shot him.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Don Chuy remembered that the man was an American and was called El Ruso.<\/p>\n

Backing up Don Chuy\u2019s story, a soldier-journalist and contemporary of Ambrose Bierce, Edward (Tex) O\u2019Reilly, wrote in his autobiography that while he was traveling with Villa\u2019s commander Toribio Ortega, they heard rumors that a small bunch of Federales had taken Sierra Mojada. Ortega sent four hundred men \u201cto clear them out.\u201d Those soldiers returned with a story that an American had been killed there, so O\u2019Reilly, thinking he should report the incident to the U.S. State Department, went to investigate. He ascertained that an old gringo had shown up with maps, asking questions about trails and how to reach Villa\u2019s army. The Federales, who weren\u2019t in uniform, suspected he was a spy. Not speaking Spanish, he couldn\u2019t answer their questions, so they dragged him to the cemetery where they shot and buried him. O\u2019Reilly, taken to the house where the dead man had been staying, asked the owner if any personal effects had been left behind. According to O\u2019Reilly, \u201cThe old fellow reached up behind a rafter on the wall and brought out two old empty envelopes left by the Americano, and they were both addressed to Ambrose Bierce.\u201d<\/p>\n

As multiple sequoia trunks can erupt from a large stump, many deaths can befall a single man. There are some who say that Ambrose Bierce didn\u2019t die in Mexico, that he traveled southward into Latin America as he once said he would. Others have mentioned that the handsome middle-aged Bierce looks suspiciously like Mexican American writer and journalist Francisco Goldman, implying perhaps that Bierce discovered an occult serum to age him slowly youthward, his literary style changing with the times. A past forks into innumerable directions.<\/p>\n

Forrest Gander is an award-winning poet, novelist and translator. His numerous books include<\/em> As a Friend,<\/em> Science & Steepleflower,<\/em> Core Samples from the World,<\/em> and <\/em>The Trace, which will be published in November<\/em>.\u00a0He is the A. K. Seaver Professor of Literary Arts and Comparative Literature at Brown University.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The many deaths of Ambrose Bierce. Ambrose Bierce\u2019s old house in St. Helena, California, surrounded by the vineyards of Napa Valley, is in good repair. Eight stout sequoia trunks flare outward from a fused base in the front yard. An hour and a half drive to the south, in San Francisco, is a short knife-thrust […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":758,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7555],"tags":[6962,775,2186,15691,7523,15693,3286,15692],"class_list":["post-78164","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-on-history","tag-ambrose-bierce","tag-california","tag-death","tag-disappearances","tag-graves","tag-jaime-lienert","tag-mexico","tag-william-randolph-hearst"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nThe Many Deaths of Ambrose Bierce<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Forrest Gander on the writer\u2019s past that forks into innumerable directions.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2014\/10\/17\/very-trustworthy-witnesses\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Very Trustworthy Witnesses by Forrest Gander\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"October 17, 2014 \u2013 The many deaths of Ambrose Bierce. Ambrose Bierce\u2019s old house in St. Helena, California, surrounded by the vineyards of Napa Valley, is in good repair.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2014\/10\/17\/very-trustworthy-witnesses\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Paris Review\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/parisreview\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2014-10-17T16:50:02+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2014-10-27T15:30:33+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/ambrose_bierce.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1164\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1011\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Forrest Gander\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@parisreview\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@parisreview\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Forrest Gander\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"7 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2014\/10\/17\/very-trustworthy-witnesses\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2014\/10\/17\/very-trustworthy-witnesses\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Forrest Gander\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/9f0777a23f99826ce77136818bbb907f\"},\"headline\":\"Very Trustworthy Witnesses\",\"datePublished\":\"2014-10-17T16:50:02+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2014-10-27T15:30:33+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2014\/10\/17\/very-trustworthy-witnesses\/\"},\"wordCount\":1438,\"commentCount\":11,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2014\/10\/17\/very-trustworthy-witnesses\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/ambrose_bierce.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Ambrose Bierce\",\"California\",\"death\",\"disappearances\",\"graves\",\"Jaime Lienert\",\"Mexico\",\"William Randolph Hearst\"],\"articleSection\":[\"On History\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2014\/10\/17\/very-trustworthy-witnesses\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2014\/10\/17\/very-trustworthy-witnesses\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2014\/10\/17\/very-trustworthy-witnesses\/\",\"name\":\"The Many Deaths of Ambrose Bierce\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2014\/10\/17\/very-trustworthy-witnesses\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2014\/10\/17\/very-trustworthy-witnesses\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/ambrose_bierce.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2014-10-17T16:50:02+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2014-10-27T15:30:33+00:00\",\"description\":\"Forrest Gander on the writer\u2019s past that forks into innumerable directions.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2014\/10\/17\/very-trustworthy-witnesses\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2014\/10\/17\/very-trustworthy-witnesses\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2014\/10\/17\/very-trustworthy-witnesses\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/ambrose_bierce.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/ambrose_bierce.jpg\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2014\/10\/17\/very-trustworthy-witnesses\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Very Trustworthy Witnesses\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"The Paris Review\",\"description\":\"The best prose, interviews, poetry, and art. Since 1953.\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#organization\",\"name\":\"The Paris Review\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/tpr-hadada-roundell-logo-square.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/tpr-hadada-roundell-logo-square.png\",\"width\":696,\"height\":696,\"caption\":\"The Paris Review\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/parisreview\/\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/parisreview\",\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/parisreview\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/9f0777a23f99826ce77136818bbb907f\",\"name\":\"Forrest Gander\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/96c7a207a8ea016501561597ff20abc3dea6e5115cf57768719da331d241c78f?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/96c7a207a8ea016501561597ff20abc3dea6e5115cf57768719da331d241c78f?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Forrest Gander\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/author\/fgander\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"The Many Deaths of Ambrose Bierce","description":"Forrest Gander on the writer\u2019s past that forks into innumerable directions.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2014\/10\/17\/very-trustworthy-witnesses\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Very Trustworthy Witnesses by Forrest Gander","og_description":"October 17, 2014 \u2013 The many deaths of Ambrose Bierce. Ambrose Bierce\u2019s old house in St. Helena, California, surrounded by the vineyards of Napa Valley, is in good repair.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2014\/10\/17\/very-trustworthy-witnesses\/","og_site_name":"The Paris Review","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/parisreview\/","article_published_time":"2014-10-17T16:50:02+00:00","article_modified_time":"2014-10-27T15:30:33+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1164,"height":1011,"url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/ambrose_bierce.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Forrest Gander","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@parisreview","twitter_site":"@parisreview","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Forrest Gander","Est. reading time":"7 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2014\/10\/17\/very-trustworthy-witnesses\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2014\/10\/17\/very-trustworthy-witnesses\/"},"author":{"name":"Forrest Gander","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/9f0777a23f99826ce77136818bbb907f"},"headline":"Very Trustworthy Witnesses","datePublished":"2014-10-17T16:50:02+00:00","dateModified":"2014-10-27T15:30:33+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2014\/10\/17\/very-trustworthy-witnesses\/"},"wordCount":1438,"commentCount":11,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2014\/10\/17\/very-trustworthy-witnesses\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/ambrose_bierce.jpg","keywords":["Ambrose Bierce","California","death","disappearances","graves","Jaime Lienert","Mexico","William Randolph Hearst"],"articleSection":["On History"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2014\/10\/17\/very-trustworthy-witnesses\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2014\/10\/17\/very-trustworthy-witnesses\/","url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2014\/10\/17\/very-trustworthy-witnesses\/","name":"The Many Deaths of Ambrose Bierce","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2014\/10\/17\/very-trustworthy-witnesses\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2014\/10\/17\/very-trustworthy-witnesses\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/ambrose_bierce.jpg","datePublished":"2014-10-17T16:50:02+00:00","dateModified":"2014-10-27T15:30:33+00:00","description":"Forrest Gander on the writer\u2019s past that forks into innumerable directions.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2014\/10\/17\/very-trustworthy-witnesses\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2014\/10\/17\/very-trustworthy-witnesses\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2014\/10\/17\/very-trustworthy-witnesses\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/ambrose_bierce.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/ambrose_bierce.jpg"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2014\/10\/17\/very-trustworthy-witnesses\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Very Trustworthy Witnesses"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/","name":"The Paris Review","description":"The best prose, interviews, poetry, and art. Since 1953.","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#organization","name":"The Paris Review","url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/tpr-hadada-roundell-logo-square.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/tpr-hadada-roundell-logo-square.png","width":696,"height":696,"caption":"The Paris Review"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/parisreview\/","https:\/\/x.com\/parisreview","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/parisreview"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/9f0777a23f99826ce77136818bbb907f","name":"Forrest Gander","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/96c7a207a8ea016501561597ff20abc3dea6e5115cf57768719da331d241c78f?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/96c7a207a8ea016501561597ff20abc3dea6e5115cf57768719da331d241c78f?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Forrest Gander"},"url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/author\/fgander\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78164","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/758"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=78164"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78164\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":78589,"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78164\/revisions\/78589"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=78164"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=78164"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=78164"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}